As someone once said, “There is a fine line between courage and lunacy.” Those are the words that come into my mind as I stand in the car park at Cairngorm Mountain and try and summon the determination to head up into the darkening clouds that shroud the artic wonder of the Cairngorm plateau. On reflection none of the above is true. I think what someone actually said was, “There is a fine line between genius and madness.” Although, looking at the weather swirl about the car park, like an angry Grizzly bear looking for someone not to like, it’s the miss-quote that seems to make more sense.
The words “artic wonder” also require a little further analysis. The rolling summits of the Cairngorms are the only places in Britain, apart from Union Street in Aberdeen and the heart of my editor, where it is cold enough to be a truly artic environment. When you think of artic you imagine polar bears romping happily amongst stunningly beautiful icebergs whilst David Attenburgh whispers his adoration. The reality, however, is often different. Far from being hidden behind a snowy lump Attenburgh is probably in a studio in Birmingham and could shout as loud as he wanted to without disturbing the polar bears. For their part I suspect the bears have terrible bad breath and would prove a lot less cuddly if, say, you were to invite one for tea.
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http://johndburns.wordpress.com/2014/11/08/gorilla-in-the-mist/ 
